


Of a Blue that should have been Red

by HapSky



Series: Child of Music, Child of Sea [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aquarium AU, Lance is a lil fish, Langst, M/M, Mer AU, Merlance, Merman Lance, On Hiatus, musician au, pianist keith, violinist Matt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-02 00:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HapSky/pseuds/HapSky
Summary: A tale of two musicians on a rescue mission. So what if they have to steal a merman and a bathtub?





	Of a Blue that should have been Red

**Author's Note:**

> Prequel of [Of Diamonds and Fireflies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10034885/chapters/22364633) featuring Lance’s backstory.  
> (You don’t have to know Of Diamonds and Fireflies to read this)  
> Inspired by a picture from [studio_mugen](https://twitter.com/studio_mugen)

Keith can't tell what bothers him when he first steps into the aquarium of Baku. The walls reach high, the halls and corridors are a shining white, clear light filters through the windows and through blue water behind thick glass. True to its reputation, exotic fish of all sorts claim this place their home. The bright colours form a refreshing contrast to the aquarium's style—and stylish it is. Keith has never seen such a luxurious aquarium before. It gives a pristine and flawless impression, but still, there is something throwing Keith off, something that irritates him. He tells Matt so. “Nervous?” Matt mocks him with a grin. Keith just huffs in response.

They are led around by an ambitious lady, Keith doesn't listen to her though, he watches the aquarium's inhabitants with way more interest. Really, the colours of all these creatures are dazzling, so vivid and vibrant. Keith gets a little lost marvelling at all the fish. Then there, a majestic creature catches his eye. A merman, swimming lonely circles in his pool. Keith halts, entranced by his soft curves and gentle movements. Copper skin and a long fishtail, white and arctic blue, with black and cobalt coloured stripes. He peeks at Matt, who pays close attention to the lady's words. So he sneaks away.

The merman notices Keith, and slowly swims closer, curiosity in his azure eyes. Keith tentatively raises a hand and waves, a small grin tugging on his lips. The merman seems surprised by this friendly gesture, but waves and smiles back.

“Hey,” Keith greets him.

_ Hi _ , the merman answers,  _ Who are you? _

Keith can’t hear him, speaking under water and behind the glassy wall. But he can read his lips, still hasn’t unlearned it. “I’m Keith, nice to meet you,” he says, but can’t tell if the merman understands him or not. Maybe merfolk have more sensitive hearing? Do they communicate through click sounds with each other like dolphins do or through singing like whales?

_ Why are you here? Isn’t Baku closed now? _ , the merman wants to know. He twirls around, his fins encircle him, waving weightlessly.

“I’m one of the musicians performing tomorrow. We asked if we could have a look when no one is around,” Keith says and shrugs. The merman halts, taken aback once again.

_ You can hear me? _ , he asks and his eyes go wide with surprise. Keith grins at his cute expression, innocent like a child’s one.

“No, I can’t. I’m reading your lips,” he explains and taps his lips for emphasis.

_ Wooaah! Me too! I wanted to know what people talk about me when they look at me so I learned how to read their lips _ , the merman says and smirks proudly. But then the happy glint in his eyes dulls.  _ But no one would speak to me _ , he murmurs.

“That’s what people do, always just talking about others but never talking to them directly,” Keith says with a frown. He has plenty of gossiping coming along with his job, he knows just well enough how it feels like—being talked about in front of your very own eyes. It’s one of the ugly parts of being a famous musician.

_ But you speak to me _ , Lance smiles,  _ kind of, I mean. It’s not really speaking. _

“It counts. But... even though I’m talking with you, you haven’t told me your name yet,” Keith tells him and smirks. Lance scowls as he realises his impolite manner and nods.

_ The name’s Lance! _ , he says happily, but then mumbles to himself,  _ No one has ever asked for my name before. _

Keith scowls slightly. There it is again, this bad feeling he has about this place. “Tell me about Baku,” he asks warily. Lance curls his tail and ponders.

_ Well _ , he starts,  _ I actually don’t know that much. It’s an aquarium, lots of fish and sea stars and sharks and snails and, well and me. Uh… It’s kinda famous? But I don’t know why, it’s boring. Maybe because I’ve never been anywhere else besides of in this tank here… _

Keith nods. “I’ve been to many places,” he says and smiles sadly, “I never really had a place to stay at.” Lance watches Keith’s lips, how they move and how they don’t, how Keith gnaws at them. “I’m travelling with Matt, and we started to give concerts here and there roughly two years ago,” Keith tells Lance and looks up, “I’m playing the piano, and he is playing the violin. He’s really good, I want to play the violin with him together one day. He teaches me, but…” Keith trails off with a heavy sigh.

_ When you can play the violin with him _ , Lance asks with a serious face and an expression of distant graveness,  _ may I sing to your melodies? _ Keith stares at Lance and gives a soft nod.

“So mermaids really are good at singing, huh?”

Lance huffs a few bubbles at that.  _ I can sing, but you’d rather want to be deaf than hear my sister’s singing voice. Not all of us are the same you know? _ , he pouts.

Keith shakes his head, “No matter how bad your sister's singing is, I’d never want to be deaf again.”

“That a merman?” Matt asks, startling Keith, who jumps away and yelps. “Nice,” Matt whistles and grins at Keith, who still looks back with wide eyes.

“Why do you keep doing that,” he hisses. Matt likes to surprise Keith. Be it with a present, a sudden violin lecture, randomly devouring him or just appearing out of thin air behind him. Keith may complain a little, but secretly he appreciates this side of Matt. It never gets boring being around him.

“Huh…” Matt squints at the small sign on the wall next to the merman’s aquarium, ignoring the glares from Keith. But then, as Matt reads out loud what is written there, Keith knows what makes him feel uneasy about Baku.

“An exemplar of captive breeding, but it apparently turned out the wrong colour…” Matt says. “ _ It _ ,” Keith growls and scowls, then watches Lance swim in circles again. This beautiful creature is no ‘it’, but a living being, with a heart and a soul. He shouldn’t be an exhibit, treated like an object. Keith can’t understand what supposedly should be wrong with his colour, too. His eyes only see a beautiful mix of blue.

“We are free to roam around now, make ourselves familiar with this place, the lady had said,” Matt turns towards Keith and smiles at him, “But I feel more like heading back to the hotel.” Keith nods in response, he doesn’t really feel like seeing more of Baku either. He waves his goodbye to Lance, and Lance wordlessly waves back.

Matt is a genius, that really isn’t something new to Keith. He has known so for a while, but when Matt had played on it for the first time Keith was able to listen, Keith has been left speechless. He still can’t quite comprehend Matt’s playing, he is caught in it every time, marveling at him in awe.

At the hotel, Matt reprises his part of their duet for the concert and Keith watches him, watches how he dances through their luxurious room, completely in sync with his instrument. It itches in Keith’s fingertips to play too, but there is no piano he could practise on. 

His thoughts start to wander, here and there—back to Lance. He wants to talk to him, wants to learn his story. He has heard of merfolk before, has heard rumours and he wants to know if they are true.

“What’s on your mind?” Matt asks, interrupting his play.

“The merman…” Keith answers truthfully. “I’ve got… a feeling,” he says.

“A feeling,” Matt echoes him.

“Yeah, like,” Keith let’s himself slump onto the double sized bed. “It’s fishy,” Keith mumbles and furrows his brows. Matt starts laughing.

“Of course it’s fishy!” Matt cackles and sits down next to Keith. “He is half fish, you know...”

Keith growls and turns around, so his face gets squished in the pillows. “Pun not intended,” he lets Matt know. Matt laughs again, ruffles Keith’s hair.

“Then go,” he whispers, and with such gentleness and fondness in his voice, Keith knows Matt understands. If there is something on his mind, then there is something on his mind—nothing to do about it. Matt knows him well.

So here he is, back at the merman’s pool, only this time Keith has found a way up, to where the water’s surface mirrors the winter’s clear starlit sky. Silence falls over the aquarium, no sounds, no noises. The water seems lifeless, like a quiet black grave. Lance is nowhere to be seen.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :D  
>   
> Me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/HapSkyScribbles)  
> Me on [Tumblr](https://hapskyscribbles.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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